Art - Leaf Rubbing Art

This rainy Friday morning, a bag of beautiful leaves was brought to the children in the morning. Attracted by the colourful leaves, the children volunteered to dry the leaves with a towel for our Art time later.  

 









As we read the book "Fall Is Here: Counting 1 to 10" by Pamela Jane, the children counted along. Not only counted the leaves, but also the children sorted the leaves in different colour groups.  What a beautiful and fun way to practice the basic mathematics. 

After sorting the leaves, we used crayons for our leaf rubbing art!

Art - Finger Painting

Last Friday, some children dipped their fingers into the paint to trace some shapes. They seemed to be interested in painting with their hands. 
Therefore, we started our art time this week with the question "what can we use to paint?"
Sophie: "we used toilet paper rolls to paint last time!"
Eva: "we can use a piece of wood." (Ann: "like a stick?") "Yes, like a stick."
Hyra: "we can roll!" Ann: "yes, sometimes people use a roller to paint."
Aston: "hands!" 

we can make both thick and thin lines by using different fingers! 

Moving outside in the nice sunshine, children practiced using their fingers to paint on a big piece of paper!

We painted by the Autumn forest.

Finger painting with Fall colours outdoor, the children also suggested other tools to paint.
Eva and Sophie wanted to use leaves to paint. Miquel and Eric thought of using twigs to paint.

 

 










After the large painting fun, the children played the "Hop Old Squirrel" song game outside. Stopping and listening during we played the song game, the children and I thought we can sit down quietly and listen to the sounds around us. We heard cars, an airplane and the wind!
"I like to do art time outside!" said the children.

Art - a Fall Harvest of Shapes

Printing the shapes with Fall colours!

This Friday, the children had a hands-on art activity about shapes. The concept of shapes is often applied and needed in children's drawing, arts and crafts. We read "Pick a Circle, Gather Squares - a Fall Harvest of Shapes" by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky at the beginning of our art time. 

Along the pumpkin farm trip in the book, the children played a shape I-Spy game on each page."Apples and balloons are round like circles!"

"Windows and the box are rectangles!"

The children took turns to spot the different shapes.

"Oval, Oval Oval!" Miquel said the shapes as he printed along.
"I made circles and triangles," said Sophie and Eva.

Using Toilet paper rolls, we created different shapes for printing. How can we form different shapes from the round paper rolls? Bending and folding the paper rolls, the children experienced working with new media for printing and painting. 

Charlie, Elliot and Hyra traced the shapes they made with their fingers. At the same time, they found finger painting joyful! Open-ended art activities welcome the children's creativity and different possibilities.

Arts & Crafts - Happy Thanksgiving from Water Group

We spread the white glue, so it could dry faster.

We wiped off the extra white glue. 

Last Friday, the children in Water group practiced gluing with a glue paddle. Today, we got to apply the gluing technique upon our Thanksgiving craft project.  

To include some wonderful Fall elements, we used acorns and pine cones for our Thanksgiving turkey crafts.

During the art time, we talked about what we are thankful for:

Eva: "I want to say thank you to Daddy and Mommy for giving me milk and water."

Sophie: "I am thankful for all the people who help me." 

Miquel: "Thank Daddy and Mommy for the happy time"

Eric: "I say thank you to Daddy when he gives me water and milk."

Wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Friday Art - Let's Glue!

Gluing is one of the basic skills that we use in art.
To help the children master their gluing technique, we discussed some tips of gluing and broke down the steps for our younger friends.
"How do we use white glue?" the children were asked.
"We put glue on the paper!"
"How do we know if we get enough white glue?" I asked while showing the children white glue dripping from a glue paddle.
"That's too much glue" the children pointed out.
"You need to wipe off the glue in the (edge of) container" a child suggested.

Often, children put more than enough white glue on their artwork. Therefore, we took turns practicing wiping off extra glue in the container and spreading the white glue on paper. 

 








With the practice in a group, the children used the white glue mindfully. Puzzle pieces and markers were provided for the children to create a piece of open-ended artwork.

Friday Art - the Sounds We Can make with a Piece of Paper

This Friday, children in Water group were given a piece of construction paper for art time.
"What sounds can we make with a piece of paper?" the children were asked.
The children seemed a bit puzzled.
"How can we make sounds out of this piece of paper?" I asked the children.

"Wiggle it!" said one child.
The children took turn to listen to the sound of wiggling a piece of paper.
"We can fan it," said another child.
Again, we tried the sound of fanning a piece of paper.
What else can we do to make sounds?
Here were the ideas that Water group had:

• wiggling
• fanning
• scratching
• stepping
• patting
• scrunching
• ripping/tearing

Then, the children used the paper, we made sound out of, to create a collage.

The children paid attention to listen to each of the simple sounds. As well, the children had the chance to manipulate and to experiment the daily art media we use everyday. The lines and wrinkles that we had from scratching and scrunching the paper gave a great touch on the children's artwork. 

Art - Blue Water Print

Painting and printing with different tools on a different surface, the children spread out blue pant with a glue paddle upon a metal tray. The children scraped and mixed different shades of blue paint.

Then, we put a piece of white paper on the tray to get our design!

"Some of them look like waves!"

Earth Group - Rain Puddle Reflection

We read "Raindrops" by Sandy Gay and "The Rain Puddle" by Adelaide Holl today at the group time. Here, we used eyedroppers to create raindrops and puddles on a tray.

Playing with droplets, the children put blue coloured water droplets upon a piece of wax paper. We used straws to blow droplets and played water droplet race! What a fun way to experience and to manipulate water droplets.

Field Trip - Kitsilano Beach

As part of our Water Wonders formative week activity, we went on a field trip to Kitsilano beach this Friday.

We were so excited at the bus loop.

The children and teachers took a bus together; it was a wonderful experience for the children.

The children shared public space and respected other passengers on the bus. 

In our formative week of our new unit, Water Wonders, our field trip to Kitsilano beach provided the children opportunities to demonstrate their prior knowledge and current understanding. As we explored at the beach, the children collected shells, sticks and seaweeds.  

The children have asked many inspiring questions, which we can explore and learn more in this unit.

Here are some of the children's questions and comments:

Where does the water in the storm drain go?

Why are there pipes in the forest trail?

Do the pipes take the water to the sea and ocean?

Why is there a pipe but there was no water inside; where did it go?

There are bus and creatures in the water.

Why is the tree and grass wet but it didn't rain?

The water is moving; the waves are coming in because the ships are pushing it over!

The wind is moving water, too.

There are animals that get food in the water like sea gulls.

When the sand has more water my boots get stuck in it.

In the summer time the sand looks different.

Why are there sea weeds and shells on the beach? How did they get there?

The water in the sea is salty.

How much salt and fresh water do we have?

Art - Foil Paper Print

Exploring with different art media, the children tried to used foil paper and paint to create the artwork. First, we slightly scrunched a piece of foil paper. Then, the children painted the foil paper.   

The children printed pattern on a piece of white paper.